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Similarities Between We Wear The Mask And Richard Cory

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Literary devices used in poetry can effectively convey the themes and messages that the poets aim to express. Both “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson and “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar explore the theme of appearances versus reality and masking true emotions and feelings. In society, there is a common expectation to put on a happy face and portray a perfect identity. The poets used their poems to express a message in which concealing oneself is not always shown easily and no one can know what someone else is feeling behind their mask. In the poems “We Wear the Mask” and “Richard Cory,” the authors used irony, imagery, and duality to reveal the theme of hiding true emotions. The use of irony is heavily used in both poems. In “Richard Cory,” the main character, Richard, appears to have everything in life. He seems as though his life is perfect and nothing could go wrong. He was envied by the whole town and was respected. In the last 3 lines of the poem, it is revealed that Richard had taken his life. “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,/ Went home and put a bullet through his head” (Robinson, …show more content…

Duality is an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or aspects of something, being dual. Richard, in “Richard Cory,” is viewed as a wealthy and successful man, yet he ultimately takes his own life. This revealed a hidden duality in him. Robinson uses duality to highlight the contrast between the public image of cory as a successful man and a content individual with his own sense of loneliness and despair. In “We Wear the Mask,” the author discusses the way people put on a mask of happiness and contentment in public, even when the people are truly not happy. The mask represents the facade that people must put on to conform to society’s expectations and hide their true feelings. By using duality, Dunbar highlights the complex nature of humans to conceal

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